


Her

by BabyAce



Category: Archie Comics, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Doubt, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love, One Shot, Overthinking, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Short One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, True Love, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 08:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10382466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyAce/pseuds/BabyAce
Summary: Soulmate AU where Jughead finds out who his soulmate is after a long time where he's doubted himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know this kind of sucks but it's just something I wrote in school bc I was bored. I also haven't written in a very long time so please have some mercy.

_ “Do you guys want to join us?” _

That’s what it said. On his wrist. Jughead brushed with his thumb over the tattoo, his soulmate tattoo, wondering who it could be. He hadn’t ever been the type who was into people. He would rather stick to his writing, avoiding the annoying students in his school. No girl, or boy, had ever caught his attention. He simply just didn’t think they were appealing in any way. Never had he had a girlfriend, or boyfriend, before. He barely had any friends.

Except for Archie and Betty, but other than that; not really. Not that he minded it. He didn’t need the approval of other people. He was used to being alone, like he'd always been growing up. Archie and Betty had each other, they were like one. You always knew that if one of them were going to be somewhere, then the other one sure would be there as well. And even though it was cute, it made Jughead feel a bit left out. He had grown up with them as well, but he still felt more like a third wheel.

Being as observant as he was, he could tell that Betty liked Archie more than as a friend. But Jughead could also tell that Archie was completely oblivious about it, and didn’t notice it what so ever. It was too bad, because Jughead really liked Betty. He thought that she was kind, intelligent, caring, and most of all; beautiful.

If Jughead had to pick one person out of all that he would choose to fall for, it would be Betty. He had a soft spot for her, no doubt about it. But he knew that it would never happen. They would never end up together because she was simply too good for him, and Archie would sooner or later realise that he had feelings for Betty as well, which would lead to a loving relationship between the two of them.

Jughead was jealous. Jealous of the relationship Archie had with Betty. He wished he could have the same, with her. Only he wouldn’t be so goddamn stupid not to realise what an amazing girl he had standing in front of him, unlike Archie. Jughead thought Archie was an idiot, but he was also his best friend.

His best friend whom he was supposed to go on a road trip with, but Archie had bailed on him in the last minute. Jughead was hurt, not have been given a proper explanation as of why Archie would stand him up the way he had done. Ever since then, they were no longer friends.

Jughead shook his head, not wanting to think more of the tattoo and its meaning, and let the hand reach to grab his precious crown beanie beside him. He lazily placed it ontop of his head before proceeding to walk out from his small abode at the drive-in. His safe haven. The only place where he could go to remember the happy times. The happy times before his mother took his little sister and left. His mother had taken Jellybean and left Jughead with their drunken father.  
  


Jughead was on his way to school. Headphones blasting music into his ears, shutting out the loud, noisy world around him. It was only him now. Only him and his music. And, of course, his loud thoughts.

Thoughts too loud to ignore. He had always had thoughts, but they had just recently become so rambunctious that no blasting music in the world would be able to block them out. The thoughts could vary from different things; existence, school, friends, family, but the thoughts that screamed the loudest were the ones about the tattoo.

Jughead’s tattoo had first appeared on the pale skin of his wrist once he reached puberty at about thirteen years old. His first thought that had rushed through his mind when he first saw the quote, written in black cursive across the small purplish, blue veins just underneath the palm of his hand, was; “how?”

How could anyone belong to him? No one had ever wanted to be with him, so why would anyone start now? Jughead was sure he was destined to be alone forever. He had never felt interest to anyone, and no one had ever been interested in him. That’s what he found so disturbing about his tattoo.

He had a hard time trying to wrap his head around the fact that there was someone out there for him, and him alone. He had a soulmate somewhere out there, waiting for destiny to throw them together. Maybe there had been some kind of mistake, and no one was actually out there for him. Maybe he was the exception.

And ontop of all of his own thoughts and problems, there had been a murder in their small, once innocent, town. The death of Jason Blossom which had sent the whole town into shock. It didn’t bother Jughead all too much though. Jason had never been anything but mean to him, bullying him with the rest of his football-gang. It had actually turned out into a good thing for Jughead. He had started to write about the death of Jason, planning to write a novel. It was a great way to escape from his own world, and his own problems.  
  


Jughead was walking down the hallway of the school, hands in his pockets, music still blasting through his headphones, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He stopped his tracks, and turned back. He took of the headphones, and peeked in through the little window of the music room door.

In the music room stood Archie and Miss Grundy, their music teacher. They stood only inches away from eachother, their noses almost touching as Grundy held Archie’s hand in hers. Jughead felt disturbed, disgusted even. Never had he thought that the person who used to be his best friend would do such a thing. It was like he saw Archie from a new perspective.

Throughout the day Jughead couldn’t get the image out of his head. The image of Miss Grundy, and the boy who used to be his best friend, standing so close to eachother, having their hands entwined. He decided to go and talk to Archie about it, and try to convince him to ditch her. It wasn’t like she cared for him anyways. She was only messing with him. It wasn’t like she was his soulmate. Atleast Archie hadn’t mentioned that she had said what his soulmate tattoo said. And that is just more proof that he shouldn’t be with her.

But Archie didn’t appreciate Jughead’s attempt to help him. He had told Jughead that he had been seeing Miss Grundy since summer, and that she was one of the reasons why he’d been acting so weird lately. Jughead was shocked by the other reason; Archie had been at the river where Jason had been murdered, at the same day.

Jughead told him to go to the police, or atleast tell their principal, but Archie refused to, saying that Grundy didn’t want to tell them. He said that it would ruin what they had. Jughead had gotten angry, and said that he believed Grundy only wanted to protect herself, which lead to Archie getting angry as well. Archie had threatened Jughead, not wanting him to tell anyone about Grundy and him, only Jughead didn’t care about his empty threat. What was Archie going to do? It wasn’t like Jughead had a lot anyways. Was he going to cut Jughead’s soulmate tattoo of his skin? He didn’t think so.  
  


The next day Jughead had been called out by Reggie, one of the guys from the football team. Reggie claimed that Jughead had murdered Jason because he was “the odd kid”. Not that it bothered Jughead too much. He was used to getting those types of comments. But after a comeback to one of Reggie’s pathetic attempts to humiliate Jughead, Reggie tried to attack him.

It was weird to think that even idiots like Reggie had a soulmate. Jughead didn’t know what Reggie’s soulmate tattoo said, but he knew he had one. Everyone had one. Jughead hoped that whoever the person was, they were not going to get treated like shit by Reggie.

Jughead was ready to get punched, when Archie stepped in to protect him. It had been a bit shocking when his ex-friend stepped up against Reggie, especially after the argument they had gotten into the night before, but he was grateful. Grateful that Archie had stepped in, because Jughead wasn’t the strongest, biggest man, and he had had no chance against an athlete like Reggie. He was grateful that Archie had gotten a punch flung at his face, for the sake of his ex-friend’s safety.

Later that same day, after the sun had set and been replaced by a big white moon, there was a football game. Jughead had been there, watching, even though he wasn’t all that interested in sports. He saw from the place where he was standing that Archie walked up to Miss Grundy. They were talking about something. Archie caught Jughead looking at them, and walked over to him.

He told Jughead that he was going to come clean about what he had heard on the morning on the fourth of July. Archie also apologized for what he had said to him the night before outside of his house. Jughead had accepted the apology, but told Archie that he still needed to think about the offer about being his friend. With a smug smirk across his face he told Archie that it would have to be discussed over many burgers, and many days.  
  


The rest of the game Jughead could only focus on the small tattoo on his wrist. Neither the cheerleaders or the game could catch his attention. He couldn’t quite understand why he was so torn about the tattoo, why it meant so much to him, yet so little. Jughead thought about who the person could be, like he did most of the time.

What would that person be like? Were they pretty? Did they have similar interests like himself? What if he didn’t like that person? Was there no chance that they wouldn’t match? Did there exist some kind of chance of failure? Jughead knew that his parents hadn’t worked out, yet he didn’t know if they were soulmates. He hadn’t thought about it until the day his own tattoo had appeared on his skin, but it was too late. His mother had already taken his sister and left, and he couldn’t ask his father.

It worried Jughead that he didn’t know when he was going to meet his soulmate, or if he already knew them. What if they showed up right when he was at the bottom of his life? What if they saw under what circumstances he lived in, and decided not to be with him? He knew there were people who didn’t follow their tattoo, their destiny, and went for another person. What if his soulmate was one of them?

Jughead thought that he would understand if they did. He understood why people didn’t want to be with him. He was the weird kid. Even though Jughead didn’t feel the need to be with someone, he felt a bit uneasy, scared almost, to think about being rejected by his soulmate.

But on the other hand, his soulmate might be the most interesting, most beautiful person in the whole world. Maybe someone similar to Betty. Jughead wondered who Betty’s soulmate might be. Maybe it was Archie. It would make sense. They looked cute together, and they got along really well. They also grew up together, which would be a cute story to tell their kids in the future.

Jughead felt how his heart started beating a bit faster, harder, in his chest. A feeling of jealousy crept up inside him, but he didn’t fully understand why. Sure, he thought Betty was beautiful, and the only girl he had ever been particularly fond of, but he couldn’t be with her. She wouldn’t want to be with him anyways. Betty was way too good for him.  
  


After the game Archie had come up to Jughead and asked if he wanted to get some food at Pop’s. Jughead had accepted, never did he ever decline food. Maybe food could be his soulmate if everything else went to shit.

Oddly enough it didn’t feel awkward being with Archie, even after their fight, and the things they had gone through the last couple of weeks. It was like everything was forgotten, even though Jughead would never forget how Archie had a thing with a teacher. With their teacher.

Once they entered the small diner, Archie’s gaze turned directly at one of the booths. Jughead was saying something to him, and put a hand on Archie’s shoulder. He then noticed what Archie was looking at. Betty was sat in the booth, with the new girl, Veronica Lodge. Betty had turned around to look at them where they stood a few feet away. Jughead couldn’t help but to think how beautiful she looked. Her blonde, silky hair up in a tight ponytail, like usual, curling a bit at the ends. A faint pink cardigan ontop of her matching pink blouse. Her blue eyes looked at them with a sweet, almost shy look.

Her bottom lip found its way inbetween her teeth, where it stayed as she turned back to look at Veronica. They exchanged looks before she turned back to look at the boys again. Jughead’s hand dropped from Archie’s shoulder, and grabbed his jacket instead, not being able to tear his gaze away from her face. He was hypnotized by her beauty, a feeling he hadn’t felt before.

What she asked them next would forever stick in Jughead’s mind. A sentence he knew so well, yet seemed so strange to hear;

“Do you guys want to join us?”

Jughead couldn’t believe his ears. After all this time he had been thinking about it, he finally knew.  
It was her.


End file.
